Unreal Engine 4

UE4 has built in gui system, it would be crazy not to

 

There is definitely some kind of a behavior tree in UE4

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?40-WIP-I-Can-Has-Lazer

 

There's AI, look at a couple of the demos. Also in the basic demo there's a camera that tracks the player which could easily be used for a turret type ai. The strategy demo has tower defence mechanics.

I'm thinking in 6-12 months when there's a marketplace with lots of animated characters and whatever extensions people come up with it'll be a lot better than it is now....


Edit:: I wonder what size the 2d game examples are on mobile for UE4, that would show the overhead the engine takes up better than big models and textures, the trees in the mobile example, for example, are 20k vertices each...I bet the textures are huge as well.

Also there's a level editor and terrain system that are really sweet.

 

You see, the "subject to change" crap wouldnt fly anywhere else except the software industry. Its used as a gimmick to make premature promises they themselves know they wont be able to keep, to get lots of people hyped about it, pay lots of money way in advance, then pull the rug out from under them.

It would be like a car manufacturer releasing a bunch of videos of next years model and talking about all the cool things they are working on. In the videos it details all the new and shiny parts and components, and at the end, they say PRE-ORDER NOW AND GET NEXT YEARS MODEL AT A REDUCED RATE!!! HURRY!!! OFFER WONT LAST LONG!!! People plunk down money and pre-order, excited they got a great deal and are excited about what they saw and envision having what they saw in the video. Next years model get released and customers start getting their vehicles .... but hmmmmm ... theres no doors on any of them. The customers ask the manufacturer "what gives? wheres the doors?". The manufacturer says "oh we're sorry we didnt have enough time to properly implement the doors, so we left them out until next years model .... but dont worry you still got a great car for a great price!!" The customers would say "but thats not what we we're shown!" .... the manufacturer says "sorry, we said it was all subject to change".

Sound familiar?

You know what kind of S*** storm the media, lawyers, people, etc, would give a car manufacturer if they did that? But somehow, we're supposed to think its okay for software manufacturers to do it.

 

Yes, they're called concept cars.

 

But this is the software industry. You may have a problem with the industry, but you can't very well hold one software company to account for adhering to what is commonplace and standard in that industry. Its almost like in this relatively new and rapidly changing industry its difficult to determine how long features will take to implement...

By the way contacted unity support regarding your point on sales to individuals:

"Yes, I saw that post. I'm not sure where they got that idea from, but it is incorrect.
Unity licences may be purchased by organisations or individuals.
For instance, all your purchases are registered against JNA mobile.
...
It is covered in our EULA, which is very similar to most other software EULA's"

 

Well... no.

The very fact that they're saying "subject to change" is pointing out that they're not making a promise. The fact that some people don't pay attention to that for whatever reason is beside the point. They're sharing the direction they're moving in, but they're not committing to any particular destination. You're holding them accountable for not keeping promises that they explicitly did not make.

It's people making lots of that particular kind of noise that's made them since stop sharing as much about their direction.

Also, yeah, other industries do this as well. Plenty of tech doesn't end up seeing production in the same form it was originally presented in. I see it on price lists or brochures for various things pretty commonly. We just see it more in software because as software developers we're more exposed to the earlier stages of what other software developers are doing. I'm sure if we were in other industries we'd see the earlier stages of their projects instead.

 

You also don't tend to get a lot of "updates" for the blender you purchased from Walmart.

 

And Cloth (still flaky, no bugs I have reported have been fixed), and for that matter PhysX itself, which finally gets updated in Unity5 after years (and that's still subject to change).

 

Source? Because I can't find anything besides scaleform and you have to integrate that yourself.

 

Looks like they are slowly adding docs for the Slate system which is the interactive UI: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Programming/Slate/index.html

HUD stuff is documented pretty good but that is non interactive UI elements.

Think they took a page from Unity here and prioritized UI last

 

There's no AI system perse in UE4. There's only empty AIControllers wich you have to code your own behaviors on it. The AI provided on example projects doesn't come from the Engine itself, they where implemented on each template/demo. If you look at AIController class it's mostly an emtpy template with some properties and callbacks, nothing more.

 

Source: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Programming/Gameplay/Framework/Controller/index.html

 

I don't think I could possibly take anything you say seriously after this nonsense post. Let me explain why it is nonsense:

1. You object to "subject to change". What is bad about subject to change? Why can't a developer change their mind? Would you like someone to walk off a cliff because they made a bad choice and were not allowed to change?

2. You launch into some sort of hate campaign and make several car analogies stating lawyers, media etc would all get hyped up, yet: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/25/2013-ford-escape-configurator-powers-up-prices-subject-to-chang/ clearly shows that car manufacturers use the term all the time.

I don't understand your hate fuelled post to be honest. If you're going to make a point about Unity, at least purchase it or develop in it, otherwise move onto something productive, like making a game or something.

I'm hardly attacking you but it's wearing thin.

 

I've compiled the C++ and Blueprint versions of the UE4 third-person shooter template, and the performance appears to be identical (around 20fps on my iMac). That said, all I'm doing is moving a character around a very simple scene, so 20fps is terrible. A fully-featured game is of course the only way to really assess the performance impact.

Here's what's strange though: 20fps on UE4 feels like around 40fps on Unity Pro. It's really not too bad and I doubt that a casual gamer would see it as anything other than completely smooth. One or both of the engines is not reporting the frame rate accurately.

 

UE4 probs has some motion blur and stuff turned on by default making it look nicer.

 

Temporal Antialiasing, with post/motion blur.

 

What there is currently is Slate UI, that's what they used to build the UE4 Editor, while you can use it for in-game UI animating it is cumbersome and there's no visual editor for it. Epic are working on something called Unreal Motion Graphics that will add Flash-like features to Slate, no release date has been given yet, so it's probably several months away. (source: Epic employee in the #unrealengine IRC channel on freenode)

 

Oh my, 49 pages. This has generated quite some buzz in the community.

My biggest issue with switching to a new engine would be the loss of framework specific knowledge you've gained, such as networking, and the general loss of .Net overall. I'm not sure about you guys but I'm heavily reliant on .Net. Although, this is a great reason to become much more fluent in C++.

Honestly, I'm scared to dive into a whole new world in terms of workflow. Losing .Net in conjunction with that sounds like a large efficiency loss.

 

I'm just a hobbyist and approaching game making more from art making, but I also like to be able to make simple games myself. some questions and sorry if they were asked elsewhere:
How is ue4 compares to unity:
-documentation, tutorials, community. I can see unity everywhere. every cg tutorial site offers good tutorials, the unity reference, documentation is great.
-logic behind game making. I guess it has to be pretty similar. I just like like unity's approach of game objects-components and their interactions, editing properties on the fly etc
-how generic ue4 is? can I make all the type of games just like with unity?

-So just how good blueprint is? I know some very basic coding in Python and c# and I don't intend to step into c++ realm (even my c# knowledge is at the level of simple scripts)

 

-there is documentation, video tutorials, wiki, answerhub, forums, and irc, all with direct interaction from the unreal engine team.
there are even questions answered by tim sweeney, mark rein
-they have a tappy chicken example made with only blueprints, there is the need to recompile, and the editor is more resource intensive because of the way UE4 has play in editor

if you can afford $20 dollars, you should give it a try, i heard news of c# bindings being made by people in the community. I would also recommend game maker, godot engine(has great 2d engine with an easy scripting language similar to python). Unity has playmaker though that's an asset store thing.

 

... if i now upgrade my Unity3d Pro License it cost: 1.624,35€ and that is the special Offer!!!! I need Unity Pro + iOS Android Pro.
That i have to Pay every Year just to be up to date!
For me Epic is a great possibility to try it out for just 19€ and i have all Pro inside...

Interesting is: Epic cares about Mac users!!! So that UE4 runs native on Mac is fantastic and makes me very Happy!!!

Unity5 has not much to offer for me really... most of the things are too late and if you look to the new uGUI System that use Pixel Grafics and not able to use Vector Graphics for Multi Resolution is absolute outdated...

So i will see the next Month how my Game works with UE4 and Unity3D...

 

Even the Tappy Chicken example is over 100MB deployed.

 

People don’t mind a larger download if the game is good though (e.g. Infinity Blade, made with UE4).

 

True, but not for a Flappy Bird kind of game.
Have a look at Infinity Blade, that's far larger than 100MB.

So yes, users are ready to download larger sized games, if the game itself is of "larger size". If every simple 2D or 2.5D game ends up being in the hundreds of MBs however, this is quite inefficient and Epic needs to do some more tweaking and stripping. Otherwise UE4 loses big time against Unity when it comes to deploying mobile games.

 

Don't worry it will get fixed soon enough.. Hence UE4 is currently BETA, so lots will change the coming months. Even Epic advices to wait 6 months to see what UE4 should be like (aka optimized/stable).

 

I'm aware, I was just answering someone's question.

Edit: Even though it remains to be seen whether Epic will actually push UE4 into all the fields Unity is in at the moment. Currently I got the impression that the engine is still meant mostly for high end scenarios and larger 3D projects, it also seems to have quite a bit higher base requirements. Despite the Tappy Chicken example, it will be interesting to see, whether it will actually actively evolve in that direction.

 

- Their documentation is good and there are a lot of examples in the "Content Examples" download.

- It is quite similar. Blueprints are like Unity prefabs, but instead of attaching scripts, you just use the graph. You can add components as with Unity. For example, their base player controller object is just like a gameobject with a Character Controller attached.

There are some differences with game setup. You'll have to override their default GameMode and Pawns, etc.

You can edit properties on the fly from their version of an inspector, but you can't watch things change in the editor view while playing or any fancy stuff like that.

- Of course, you can make any type of game. As soon as you've overriden the default GameMode/etc it seems as good as "blank".

- Blueprint is like any other visual editor. It makes some simple things verbose, but can sometimes be less annoying than creating new scripts all the time. The context sensitive block placement is a bit annoying, even when turned of, and it seems like you can't do some simple things such as subscribe to an event, then recieve it without referencing a specific Blueprint, unless I'm doing it wrong.

 

This is just a bummer... I suffer from the grass is greener syndrome heavily.. I can't decide on any app and even if i do i constantly checking the others what am i missing

 

96 to 99 % of this forum users can't do anything(for get real money) with UE4, this is the truth...

 

It's good that you gave a 3% range there on that highly accurate statistic

 

Concept cars also arent available for sale.

So if its something you agree with its not nonsense, but anything you disagree with is nonsense to you.

Nice try, but labeling my points and arguments as "nonsense" will not work in proving what I said was incorrect, and nowhere is my post "hate fueled" as you state. You are throwing your perceptions of emotions because you, yourself, hate the truthful points I am making and it angers you. What next? Going to label me a "troll"?

Now back to your example, it has failed logic. If you take a look at your link, you'll notice you cannot pre-order it, and they will not accept money for it until it goes for actual sale and that both price and the product are subject to change. Proving my earlier point, that taking pre-order/money for something then backtracking on what the customer was either told/implied/suggested/etc would not fly in any other industry but the people have really stupidly become accepting of it in the software world. In the non-software realm most do not offer pre-orders on concept products or products that are currently in production .... because there are too many liabilities and claims/lawsuits that can be filed against them should the customer not get what was promised/implied/suggested/etc.

 

I think you're fishing for attention or such, I would suggest you finish your game. Going by your posting history that would imply a game made in UE4, in which case I wish you the best of luck.

Also: there's several posts above mine also disagreeing with you. That's not a bad thing, we are all wrong sometimes and it takes a measure of humility to realise that one is behaving like an utter twat.

I do not dislike you or like you, but I felt personally, your post had no reason to exist, no reasoning in logic and was thus nonsense. That's just my opinion and it hasn't changed. It shouldn't be important to you what people's opinions are, only important that you are here for a purpose.

My purpose on the Unity forums is to develop and assist in other people's development, which may or may not include the business side of things, and encourage Unity to make a better product. This encouragement does not extend to attacking Unity for having a flexible policy because having developed since 1981, I am well aware of needing subject to change.

Perhaps you should attack UE4 for pulling their realtime GI lighting system before launch because it wasn't "subject to change", indeed, they didn't even give you that hint that it might change.

Thus, your post is complete nonsense.

 

Again, incorrect on so many levels.

Nowhere did I say I'm using a UE4 for a project, in fact to the contrary I stated I'm using Unity for my current project, but when its wrapped up I will have to reevaluate the solutions available, which by then UE4 would have matured and hopefully UT5 would be available for evaluation.

But again, nice try again in labeling me and attempting to make it appear as my points are not relevant or valid to the subject at hand, because it is, whether you agree with it or not.

 

In which case surely you must care, and you DO understand that directly attacking Unity causes them to close up even more? There's a precedent for this. Unity responds best if you apply pure logic and not attacks.


If you want to go further here, you also need to understand public perception of you, so you are listened to and your arguments are reasoned with.It's best not to go personal about these sorts of things. I do not think you're stupid or anything, just not approaching the problem in an effective way that resonates best on this forum.

I really want you to be a great contributor to the forums. If that means we do not agree on matters that's actually OK - it's two people agreeing or not. But it involves putting heated emotion to one side. I think you understand where I am coming from and possibly, I'm not quite the person you're expecting me to be.

I'm not going to judge you, but I may judge your posts (as is anyone's right on a public forum).

 

I believe I responded to a similar point you bring up here in a different thread, that the guys and gals and Unity are not these overly sensitive children, and they really should not take to heart what a bunch of forum fools discuss. If they cannot handle ribbing, criticism, or any thing against ego ..... then they really shouldnt be in the customer oriented business. Customers come in all forms from great, good, bad, to ugly in their ways of being. It doesnt mean that the customers actually hate the product, or wish it bad. If people hate a product or hate a company they simply leave and dont look back, never wanting anything to do with them.

Unity's community clearly shows people dont hate it, nor is there product terrible ..... even with the bickering back and forth ..... and UT themselves know this.

Should we walk on eggshells around them? I personally dont think so. How is UT going to learn and respond to what we the customers really think and really feel if they dont actually see it? We shouldnt sugar coat our feelings and perceptions of Unity if we really want them to create a product that will please all of us. So, I refuse to act all puppy dogs and roses, and pretend like everything is hunky-dory and that everyone is farting rainbows .... and if that upsets some people, fine I understand, but I'd rather be completely honest and open then not.

 

While the emotional side of me agrees that we should hammer the point home with heart and passion, I don't think UT will see it that way due to how they've been trolled in the past. I think they gloss over it as simply someone trolling them, which is why I'm saying it's better to corner them logically. This can only be a win-win:

- if our logic fails, then it was fallible to begin with
- if our logic succeeds, then they *have* to take notice or be deemed an illogical company

 

Good point, I've seen Jonas and Graham trying to give some feedback on the forums only to be jumped on by a slurry of people.

We need to make sure we approach this logically, even though I do find it difficult to do so. With ram limit editor crashing issues a massive amount of times a day the cost of monitors is far outweighing the cost of all tools..

 

For all the nay-sayers I suggest they go to UnrealEngine YT channel and watch the Blueprint videos then come back here and try to defend Unity's way as better way.

I did watch the BP videos over the weekend and to be honest I felt jibbed (and even upset).

For all those times I had to write a dozen or more lines of C# code in Unity and attach them to a GO to get simplest functionality, that BP now offers by creating two blocks and connecting them in some way to the actor...

I want to hear some Unity "apologist" come out and tell me how it's soooo better and faster coding it in C#, in the antiquated Mono each time they need a simplest action performed instead of visually connecting blocks that expose most (if not all) of the UE4 API, context aware even.

Also, to the defenders of the Unity 5 graphics "bling", brace yourself because Enlighten will be back to UE4. As will Scaleform, and all the other middleware, in one way or another.

But wait, if you don't want Scaleform, I read someone said Coherent UI has been ported to UE4, too, so there's your alternative GUI system.

Further more, SpeedTree that you are going to pay $495/seat, might soon be free for all UE4 users.

Take and think what you will from my post - I've been toying with Unity for years now, and did originally drink Helgason's Kool-Aid about "democratizing the gaming," except that after last week's Epic announcement (pun intended), I feel that the Kool-Aid finally wore off and the real democratization might actually be elsewhere.

 

LOL
that's Stephen Colbert punch back style

 

That would be Kool-Aid FYI.

 

Hey All.

I'm kinda freaking out with information overload. I started learning C# and Unity in January, and just finished my deisgn doc. Doing a TD game to start.. then probably a strategy game later. When I look at videos showing this Visual Script potential.. knowing this is $20 a month.. and I was going to buy a visual script for Unity and the TDTK for $70 and A* for $100.. I mean... it seems like Unity is horrible pricing now. it's all perception.. and Epic reallllly changed the game. This comes with UE4 from what I understand.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNmrz_ZeLBc

I have a different perspective than a lot of people here maybe because you all seem very familiar with Unity. I guess since I'm only on with it, I might jump ship (so to speak) because I have not full invested. UE4 looks pretty user friendly and the interface doesn't look bad.

No less, I'm totally throwing down $20 to mess around with it. To me it looks really inspiring....

 

if unity turtles up that is their loss, i don't even think all this upset over UE4/CE is going to have any immediate effect on UT, unity 5 isn't coming out for like a year, tbh, i think they announced it way too early, and everyone just upped their offering compared to theirs, maybe they will revise their pricing.

 

where is this "a year until unity5" coming from?

 

Been confirmed several times it will be out in the summer.

 

Unity 5 will be out in the summer? Confirmed?
I thought Unity 4.6 will be out in the summer time frame. No?

 

It would make sense to release Unity 5 at UNITE 2014 which gives enough time to UT to get it ready. Meanwhile we'll see 4.5 and 4.6 come out to keep everyone at bay, if that's even possible anymore (cat's out the bag).

 

Didn't they mention somewhere they couldn't release 4.6 and 5 at the same time for some reason and thus 5 might be released before 4.6 since 4.6 is just 4.5 + new GUI and it would make more sense to release 5 before that because it would be more important?
And it would happen somewhere around the end of spring, if i'm not mistaken.

can't wait this long :sad: